Quick Response Evaluation of Energy Related Occupational Safety and Health Programs. Task Order 1: Mortality Study of 50 Workers Exposed to Coal Liquefaction Processes at a Union Carbide Plant, Institute, West Virginia

摘要

A study was undertaken of 50 Union Carbide employees who had been exposed to high boiling oils containing polycyclic hydrocarbons, coal tar, and pitch. The exposures occurred as a result of a coal hydrogenation process initiated at the West Virginia facility in May of 1952. Workers were given annual physical examinations and, beginning in 1955, quarterly skin inspections. A review of the findings does not support the initial hypothesis that those workers exposed to heavy streams of toxic materials who developed cancerous skin lesions were at risk for developing systemic carcinoma. Indeed, there was a marked lack of cancer-related deaths or morbidity in the study group after a latency period of 18 to 20 years. One case of lung cancer was reported in a subject at 60 years of age, after a lifetime of smoking. One case of prostatic cancer was diagnosed at 77 years of age. A review of the five deaths listed indicated all were cardiac related including coronary disease, arterio sclerotic disease, cor pulmonale, and myocardial disease.